Following a vigorous PETA campaign that kicked off with a life-size inflatable orca outside AAA’s Upper West Side office in July 2018, AAA Northeasthas confirmed that it has stopped selling SeaWorld tickets.

Members and supporters of PETA and ProtestSeaWorldNYC demonstrated outside AAA Northeast’s Manhattan club more than 18 times in the past year, including the day the policy was made. AAA Northeast (encompassingclubsthroughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) now joins a growing list of travel-industry leaders—including: AAA Arizona,AAA Washington,andVirgin Holidays, aswellasUnited, Alaska,Delta,JetBlue,Southwest,Spirit,Sunwing, and WestJetairlines that have cut ties with SeaWorld.

“No decent business should want to be associated with an amusement park that’s still breeding dolphins and riding them around like surfboards in circus-style shows,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a statement. “AAA Northeast made the right call in cutting ties with SeaWorld, and PETA is calling on AAA branches that haven’t yet done so to follow suit.”

In nature, orcas may swim as far as 140 milesperday and bottlenose dolphins may swim up to 60 miles per day, they can also dive to depths of nearly 1,500 feet and maintain dynamic relationships within a large social network. At SeaWorld, 140 of them are squeezed into just seven small tanks and can’t escape attacks from other frustrated, aggressive dolphins. At SeaWorld’s annual meeting in June 2019, PETA—which owns stock in the company—urged its fellow shareholders to stop allowing trainers to stand on dolphins’ backs and faces, which (as detailed in a new veterinary report) may damage their hearing, strain muscles and joints, and exacerbate the injuries caused by confinement to the cramped tanks.